Chapter 21

"You are truly trying to kill me, aren't you?" Caius sighed as the two of stood outside the Fall Festival Volunteer sign-up booth.

"Come on," I told him. "I already used the last of Alice's money. So if I help prepare the Volterra Fall Festival, I'll get paid. See? Eight bucks an hour. That's a pretty good deal."

"But why do I have to do this labor with you if I do not need the money?" Caius complained.

"Because I need someone to argue with."

"Great reason."

"Thanks."

I began to approach the booth until Caius grabbed my wrist and yanked me back. "Here, I have a solution that will benefit us all. The Volturi will lend you a couple hundred dollars. That way none of us have to do physical work. Deal?"

"Nah, it's okay," I said, much to his dismay. "Because if you guys give me money, I'll have to pay you back, and then the Cullens will have to pay for me, and…yea I really don't want to get into all of that. Besides, I want to earn my own money for once."

"Since when?" Caius frowned.

"Since none of your business."

I shook Caius's cold grip off and stepped in front of the booth. A middle-aged lady with short, red hair returned my gaze with a kind smile. A small little name tag near her left shoulder said TINA. "Hello."

"Hi," I said. "I'd like to sign up."

"Certainly. Name?"

"Bella Swan and Caius-"

"No," Caius hissed.

I sighed. "Fine. Just Bella Swan."

"Alright," The lady scribbled down my name in fancy cursive. "You're the second volunteer we've had all day. I'm afraid not too many people care about the Festival this year."

"That sucks."

"Yes. Yes it does," The lady seemed lost in thought before she snapped out of it. "Anyway, you see that young man on the cafe roof? With balloons?"

I squinted. Sure enough, I spotted a college looking guy with a scary black Harley jacket and evil sunglasses blowing air into a red balloon. Dang. I was at least a hundred yards away from him and he already scared the crap out of me. I slowly nodded.

"His name's Gabe, and he's the other volunteer," The lady explained. "You can start by climbing up that ladder and help him finish blowing all the balloons. Once you two finish the balloons, come back down here and I'll give you your next task for the day."

"Lovely," I muttered, and strolled back to Caius.

"Well, you know where the palace is," Caius told me and started back down the street. I grabbed his arm.

"Wait a sec! You're leaving me?" I cried.

"I have work to do," he said reasonably.

"Come on," I whined. "Just stay for like…an hour or something."

"Why?"

"Because that guy…creeps me out," I admitted. "Don't leave me alone with him!"

"You'll get over it," Caius assured me, yet it didn't sound that assuring at all.

Then something struck me. What the hell was I doing? I didn't have to beg him to stay like a crybaby. He'd stay regardless. Never once I had been alone outdoors, because he had been worried about my safety. I quickly released his arm taking a step backwards.

"Okay, that's fine," I said casually, turning towards the direction of the ladder. "You must have a lot of work to do. I'll just do this on my own. Lets hope that this Gabe dude isn't a newborn. See ya." I started walking down the street, refusing to look back. No surprise, I couldn't hear Caius walking away.

3… I counted down in my head. …2…1…

"Perhaps I'll stay for a few hours," Caius caught up with me.

I smiled. I was awesome.

The Gabe guy didn't seem to like our presence. The moment Caius and I climbed up the latter, he glared at us from his dark glasses and started blowing balloons on the other side of the roof. Caius and I had both shared a suspicious glance, but we started blowing our own balloons, watching the town beneath us.

"When was the last time you heard from Cullen?" Caius asked, breaking the long silence.

I frowned. "Why does it matter to you?"

He shrugged. "I just think it's kind of rude that he would ignore you while you are living with a bunch of mortal eating vampires. That's all."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure you do."

He murmured something that I didn't catch.

We sat in more awkward silence, getting closer to finishing the bag of balloons. We were about done until he started a conversation up again. "You must be excited to go back to your little rain town."

I thought this over. When was the last time I thought about Forks? Let alone Forks being the place I was supposed to go back to. It really felt over the last six or seven weeks that Volterra was my real home. I tried to shrug uncaringly. "Back to Forks. Back to all that rain. Yay. Really looking forward to all that."

Caius noticed my heavy sarcasm, and he frowned. "So you aren't excited."

"No, no, I am…" I said. "I just hate all that rain."

"I've noticed," Caius muttered.

"Hey," I replied hotly. "You hate rain more than I do. Remember when we were on those boats at the bay? You figured holding your hands towards the sky would amazingly keep you dry."

"Water disgusts me," Caius defended himself. "And anyway…I trust that you will be overjoyed to be reunited with Cullen. Tell me, how many little arguments have you guys had?"

For some reason, it looked like he was expecting a big number. I thought this over. "None, really."

"None?" Caius gaped.

"Yea…we aren't like most couples. We're just sort of…perfect for each other, I guess."

"Is that so," Caius went back to blowing a balloon. "It must be pleasant to have a perfect relationship."

"It is nice," I sighed. "But now that you mention it…it is kind of boring."

"How so?"

"Like…there's nothing that exciting about the two of us. We both love each other, we both know so, and…and that's basically it."

"So you are unhappy," Caius decided.

"No, I'm happier than ever with him," I disagreed quickly. "I'd never want to leave him. Not in forever."

Caius tried to mask a flinch, but he failed miserably. I frowned. "Um…why do you ask?"

"Mere curiosity," he muttered quietly.

"Oh," I changed the subject. "So…when is Marcus going to go find a new mate for you?"

"He is most likely doing so as we speak," Caius twisted the balloon tabs in his fingers. He then added boldly. "I trust my fellow Volturi leader to find me the most unique, glorifying woman that is out there."

I only nodded. Something about his words put a leash on my happiness. I stared at the beautiful blonde vampire, trying to detect any joke or smile into his face. Nope. He stared back at me dead seriously. I turned away.

"Well…" I sighed. "I guess we should go figure out our next task."

"I am officially lost."

I flashed a grin at Caius who was awkwardly holding a hose. He clearly didn't know how to use it, let alone what it was. I grinned. I had a great idea in mind.

"Tina said we have to hose down these wooden signs from last year's festival," I said the obvious.

"Like I said before," Caius muttered. "I am officially lost. How in the world do I use this thing?"

"Here, I'll show you," I grinned evilly. "See this? It's called the nozzle."

"And I do what with it…?"

"Point it directly at your face."

Caius did so, and I could barely hold in my laugh any longer. He glanced at me suspiciously. "But how is holding it to my face going to help us clean the-"

"Just hold it there."

Caius sighed, and kept his mouth shut. I backed up towards turn the water on, trying to hide my evil smile.

"Are you sure this is what we're supposed to do?" Caius pressed.

"Completely."

Then, I twisted the water onto full blast.

The hose jerked, and sprayed Caius full on the face. It only lasted him about two seconds before he realized what was going on and dropped the hose. He dropped with it, shaking the water out of his hair like a dog, and gaping at me in the most perfect, shocked expression.

I laughed.

Caius then did his own evil little grin and grabbed the hose nozzle still spraying water uncontrollably.

Uh oh.

"You're so going to get it now!" Caius laughed darkly, and pointed the nozzle in my direction.

I screamed, water covering me completely, my hands blindly trying to protect myself. Protection. I needed protection!

I dived behind one of the largest boards, buying me some time. I knew for a fact that Caius would eventually come in and wipe me out again. Sure enough, another hose lay right before me. Smiling, I grabbed the nozzle, ready for Caius next blow.

Caius then jumped behind the board and began to shoot me. I started to laugh, and pointed my own hose back at him.

The two of us were laughing and using the hoses for our own causes the whole next hour and a half. We eventually got tired of laughing, dropping to the floor, exhausted. And to top it all off, we were soaking wet.

"Edward would have never had a hose fight with me," I sighed as I stared at the silver clouds in the sky.

"Why?"

"Because he'd think it would hurt me," I said. "He'd think it would make me cold. There's a list of reasons."

"I'm still going to get you back for tricking me like that," Caius warned.

I giggled. "Too bad I'm too good to be tricked."

Caius scoffed and then turned serious. "I think we should be getting back."

"I suppose," I agreed, realizing the night wind was beginning to come.

I rolled over and sat up, keeping my eyes fixed on the vampire next to me. I could vaguely still see that this Caius was the same Caius that despised mortals and hated everything around him. He was different now. He was better.

Caius returned my stare, the sun reflecting off his eyes. His golden eyes.

Wow. Caius switches to animal blood instead of human blood... FIND OUT WHY IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, and be sure to read the next chapter because it's supposed to be really important anyway O.O

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